There has been an interesting group of studies that casts doubts over the contribution of protein towards muscle growth versus hard, solid resistance training. At the end of the day, whether you believe it or not (and even with error margins), I think what it say is that – it doesnt matter shit that you miss eating your protein on a few days. It also doesnt matter to sit inside a gym and keep sipping your expensive protein shake while working out (also known as peri-workout nutrition, debunked here). But it matters a lot that you put in a lot of solid resistance training, even when you are sleepy or tired.

We hypothesized that protein supplementation twice daily would preserve muscle mass during a short period of limb immobilization.

In the present study, we found that only 5 d of muscle disuse lead to substantial loss of muscle mass in older individuals. These data are in line with recent data from our group in which we observed similar muscle mass and strength losses in younger individuals

In the present study, we found that only 5 d of muscle disuse lead to substantial loss of muscle mass in older individuals. These data are in line with recent data from our group in which we observed similar muscle mass and strength losses in younger individuals

Increasing dietary protein intake from 1.1 to 1.6 g did not attenuate the loss of muscle mass or strength observed during a 5-d period of leg immobilization. The apparent discrepancy between the outcome of the present study and previous work in prolonged bed rest studies

may be attributed to differences in protein intake in the control group. In the present study, the control group retained normal habitual energy and protein intake whereas the PRO group was administered additional supplementation efits of amino acid supplementation on muscle mass main-tenance, the control groups generally consumed dietary protein at a concentration no higher than 0.8 g

Consequently, we speculate that maintaining dietary protein intake is required to prevent muscle loss during disuse, but that increasing dietary protein intake above habitual concentrations does not further alleviate muscle loss during disuse.

This study indicated that 8 weeks of resistance training improved muscle performance and size similarly among groups regardless of supplementation.

This is the study that caused a lot of controversy – about how a properly administered trial actually failed to prove any correlation of muscle supplementation (even the mind-game placebo variety) with muscle growth ! This is incredibly fascinating and needs to be studied more.

“It is possible that the beginners in the study by Herda et al. could have benefited from their initial sensitivity to RE, resulting in significant hypertrophy despite sub-optimal nutritional circumstances”.

But this is an interesting study no doubt – that hard training may outclass expensive supplements (in third world countries). Having said that, please do note that a protein-centric diet has many advantages for diabetes control and weight loss (however calorie restriction is again the best way to achieve those)